


Night Tremors

by Ray_Writes



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Barry Allen has PTSD and Survivor's Guilt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Identity Reveal, Pre-Episode s02e10 Potential Energy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23637973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Patty finally gets her answers as to why Barry's been having nightmares.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Patty Spivot
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Night Tremors

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a bit of a departure for me. It’s not often that I focus on The Flash itself, and usually when the characters feature in my other stories, I stick to canon pairings as that makes things simpler. However, I’ll admit that back when I watched season 2 as it was airing, I had a soft spot for Patty and the Barry/Patty ship. I also felt like, at the time, Patty was one of the few characters who seemed actually concerned with Barry’s mental health, which really suffered that season between his survivor’s guilt over Eddie and Ronnie’s deaths and the beating he took from Zoom in 2x06. So I’ve always wanted to write something where she can start to help him with that.  
> Many thanks to my good friend and beta Okoriwadsworth for having a look at this one. This is my first time writing Patty in my fics, so I wanted to be sure I’d done her justice. Thanks to all of you for reading, and please enjoy!

Patty had always been a deep sleeper. Her dad used to say that she was so full of life and energy during the day that she needed the extra deep sleep to recharge those batteries. That wasn’t any different now that she was grown up and he was gone.

So it took a lot to wake her, but one night, she did find herself shaken awake. Though not exactly in the usual sense.

Patty turned her head, frowning as she found her sleep slipping away while her whole body seemed to tremble. Then it occurred to her that was because the mattress was vibrating. Did Barry have some kind of fancy bed…?

But when Patty sat up, adjusted the straps on her tank top and looked over at her boyfriend, she realized he was shaking. And not just because the mattress was. He was the one _making_ it shake.

The edges of him almost seemed to blur as he shook, mumbling something in his sleep. “Not her… please…”

His voice came out of his blurred mouth distorted in a way she had only seen and heard once before: whenever she came across the Flash.

Patty clapped a hand to her mouth to avoid shouting out loud. _Barry was the Flash?_ It made a horrible amount of sense, horrible because the last time she had seen the Flash she had _shot_ him with a B.O.O.T. Even if he’d talked her down from killing Mardon and seemingly forgiven her, she had used a weapon on her boyfriend! How could he even want to be with her?

Though, he was apparently with her even in his dreams. “Patty… please, not Patty!”

Definitely a nightmare. He’d been having those off and on, usually just the regular tossing and turning that sometimes half-woke her in the night. She had tried to ask Iris if there was some way they could help him but nothing much had resulted. Knowing he was a literal superhero was a fairly crucial piece of context she had been missing until now.

Barry was getting louder, and that threatened to wake his family in their own rooms down the hall. Patty couldn’t exactly let that happen. For one thing, assuming they all knew his identity could be dangerous on the slim chance she was wrong. For another, it was awkward enough sleeping with her boyfriend in her partner’s house; she didn’t love the idea of Joe walking in on them in bed together. They were so moving this to her place from now on, Joe and his family closeness be damned.

“Barry?” Patty reached a hand out and touched his shoulder, the vibration running from him to her now making her arm sort of tingle. “Wake up. It’s just a dream.”

Barry’s eyes flew open and locked on her with panic. “Patty?”

In an eyeblink and a _whoosh_ of air, she found herself suddenly cradled in his arms in the far corner of the room. Barry was hunched over them both as if to shield her from an attack.

What had he been put through to produce that strong of a reaction to a nightmare? People always said the Flash was the fun, rescue-your-cat-from-a-tree hero, but this was trauma. She thought about the speedster in navy blue who had dragged the Flash — _Barry’s_ — body through the whole city one night. What had he been suffering through that whole time she’d thought he was lying about being sick?

He wasn’t quite with her yet, even if he was awake. Patty framed his face with her hands and brushed the tears that were falling down his cheeks.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Barry’s breathing calmed, and he blinked when her lips brushed his cheek. She wat he’s him look around the room, his grip slackening.

“What… when did we—?”

“You were having a nightmare and kind of _ran_ us here,” she told him with a significant look.

Barry’s mouth dropped open. “Oh god.”

“Yeah.”

For a single moment, she thought he might just drop her and flee. But he seemed to realize she was still holding him as closely as he was holding her still. “Patty, I- I was thinking about telling you soon. I mean, I wanted to. It felt like we were really, really going somewhere… together.”

“I know why you wouldn’t want to tell me right away, and I’m glad you feel like you can trust me now.” Patty’s hand trailed down to rest on his chest over his heart. It was still beating fast, and faster than his usual rhythm which was already above average. She really should have seen this one, shouldn’t she have? Some detective she was.

Patty refocused as she looked up into his eyes. “But I’m worried about the secrets you’re keeping.”

Barry tried for a smile. “I’m not — I mean there’s stuff about the Flash you might not know yet, but I can tell you that. I’m not gonna keep hiding—”

“I don’t just mean from me. Have you opened up to anyone about your PTSD?”

Barry reeled back, and she really did slip towards the floor a couple inches. “What do you mean?”

It was better they probably have this conversation upright anyway. Patty untangled herself from him and stood, pulling him up with both hands. She got him moving so that they could sit on the side of the bed, and she tucked one leg underneath her to face him fully.

“I mean you’re having awful nightmares, you’re losing sleep, you’re dissociating from the looks of it. Is this because of what happened with that other speedster a couple of months ago?”

Barry’s eyes took on a haunted look when she said it. “Zoom. He’s… I’m handling it.”

“But are you okay after what happened?”

“Yeah, I healed.”

Patty shook her head. “Maybe physically, but we both know that officers don’t jump right back into the thick of things once they get their medical clearance. There’s a process.”

He shifted on the mattress. “I’m not going to another shrink. Even if there was one that knew my identity.”

Patty sat back a little. She hadn’t known Barry had such an aversion to mental health specialists. “Did something happen?”

He wasn’t looking at her, but he blew out a breath and said, “Joe sent me to one when I was a kid, before anybody realized my dad was innocent.”

“Barry, I’m so sorry.” Patty took his hand. “I would never force you to talk to someone you don’t want to. But I need you to know that I’m here to talk to. Joe’s here, Iris is too. You have friends who care about you and wouldn’t want you to be hurting on your own.”

It was hard to know in the limited, dim light coming through the window, but she thought he was holding back from crying. “I thought I was okay,” he said in a thick voice, confirming her theory. “I have to be okay, otherwise Zoom will get to you, and I can’t—”

“Hey.” Patty squeezed his hand before it could start shaking too badly again. She scooted closer on the bed. “I am safe right now. You don’t have to be okay all the time.”

He buried his head in her shoulder and cried. Patty stroked his hair and rubbed his back, letting him let this out. He sagged against her, the tension that kept him so tightly-wound at times finally finding release.

“I just… I can’t lose you,” he said. “I love you, Patty.”

Patty froze, her hands stopping their soothing motions as his words hit her. “You love me?”

Barry looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah. I really do.”

She had hoped, without wanting to assume. They were intimate, after all, even if the words had not been exchanged. But looking at him now, this man she admired, who had saved her from metas and from her own demons, who she could see now was as vulnerable as he was strong, saddened as he was sweet, Patty knew without doubt that she felt exactly the same.

She couldn’t keep her eyes from tearing up as she whispered back, “I love you, too.”

For the first time tonight, a smile graced her boyfriend’s features. Barry leaned in, one hand cupping the back of her head, and their lips met in a slow, deep kiss. Patty’s eyes slipped shut as she wound her arms around Barry’s shoulders. Her leg hooked around Barry’s waist as she moved closer in, and that tingling feeling was back in her lips, her arms, everywhere. Barry was shaking again.

Patty broke off the kiss, lips parted in a half-formed question, but he shook his head and grinned.

“I’m okay. Just really happy that I don’t have to hide parts of me from you anymore.”

Warmth bloomed in her chest, and Patty played with some of the hairs at the nape of his neck. “Me too.” Then she picked right back up from where they had been, humming in the back of her throat as one of his hands snuck under her top. That slight vibration, now that she knew it meant he was happy, felt kind of good.

She didn’t think Barry’s troubles were over; far from it. But he was being open and honest about them with her, and that was all she’d really hoped for before he’d confessed just how deep his feelings ran for her. There was so much to talk about in the morning now that she knew the truth.

For the moment, though, she would help ease the worry and the pain his nightmares caused. And maybe, once Barry’s peace of mind was achieved even just for one night… they could both get some much needed sleep.


End file.
